However, now that I’m back here, I thought it time I put key to computer again and got a blog up  – so maybe it is a bit odd that I’ve chosen the same subject as last time.

As a commuter and new parent of a very young child, I am naturally paranoid about Swine Flu and have therefore been following the stories closer than I normally would.

Today’s call to close schools to curb the spread of the flu is not a shock and I fully expect the closure of other public offices as the virus spreads.

So, now is perhaps the best time for organisations to be sorting out their online presence.  With the aid of social media there is nothing stopping this country continuing to function without any major disruption even if the vast majority of office staff are at home.

In a recent meeting through work, the developers of an online learning platform told me that they are receiving more and more enquiries in light of possible swine flu closures – so what’s stopping the rest of the public sector looking at the same?

If this pandemic does reach the epci proportions predicated, we’ll have a lot of people staying at home who want to be kept informed – and social media will be the west way for that to work.

This isn’t rocket science – but it doesn’t seem to be happening in the UK.  New York City recently looked at how facebook could be used in an emergency - and it would be good to see plans like that over here in the UK

Birmingham City Council have recently completed a great wordpress powered site to put all their new output in one place, providing breifings for journalists and other interested parties to keep them informed.  Similar sites could do the same with Swine Flu (or indeed other emergency) information.  Here are some other features I think they could add:

• Find a flu-friend (sign up to volunteer to drop off food or medication to someone hosuebound by flu – or sign up to locate a flu friend)
• Online chat room to support people with expert advice or a place for a chat if you’re bored indoors
• Links to national support websites.

It should olnly take moments to set up – so let’s hope someone sorts it.

It seems, that once again, we’re shutting the door after the horse has bolted.  We’re currently seeing situations where whole schools need to be closed, and looking at building our learning models around that crisis.  Previously, we’ve seen how Twitter grows after use in an emergency, as I’ve previously blogged about.  We’re currently seeing how it can be used in real radicalism, during the protests following the Iran election.

Why, then, do we find it such a challenge to build technology into our public services to make life better for the customer or, in this case, the learner?  It shows that, in our public services, including learning, the issue is still control – the institution’s needs come above those of the customer.

Recently, we’ve seen strong drive from central government to include and empower learners in the Learning Revolution and it’s Learning Transformation Fund.  It’s quite clear from the funding workshops I’ve been to through work that bids should mean larger organisations working with the smaller, self organised organisations and ideas should come from the bottom up.

So, what’s it to be?  Do we continue to wait until we have another pandemic or another institutional need before we start looking at how the technology helps – or do we start using it now, so that our organisation is ready, but alsoso that our customers get the best experience too?